SAN FRANCISCO / Muni diesel deadline passes without action

Charlie Goodyear, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Monday, February 14, 2005

Photo: BRANT WARD

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DIESEL1-17DEC01-MT-BW--A Geary Blvd. bus moved up the street from Van Ness spewing black smoke. The San Francisco Muni still relies on diesel buses while other municipalities have gone to other fuel sources. By Brant Ward/Chronicle CAT Metro#Metro#Chronicle#2/14/2005#ALL#5star##421806251 Ran on: 02-14-2005
A Muni bus spews black smoke as it travels along Geary Boulevard. Proposition I, passed by voters last year, requires the transit agency to replace the polluting buses. less

DIESEL1-17DEC01-MT-BW--A Geary Blvd. bus moved up the street from Van Ness spewing black smoke. The San Francisco Muni still relies on diesel buses while other municipalities have gone to other fuel sources. By ... more

Photo: BRANT WARD

SAN FRANCISCO / Muni diesel deadline passes without action

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Disappointing environmentalists and public health advocates, San Francisco's Municipal Railway has missed the first of three deadlines to phase out about 150 highly polluting diesel buses.

The first deadline, mandated by last year's voter-approved Proposition I, expired last month and required Muni to replace a quarter of the buses. The Board of Supervisors' land use committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday to examine how the transit agency is complying with the terms of Prop. I.

But environmentalists are already crying foul.

"It's a cause for concern that the first deadline for complying with a voter-approved measure has come and gone without any compliance," said Jon Golinger, spokesman for a coalition that includes the American Lung Association, the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council. "It just means more pollution every day. And this raises questions about whether Muni is willing to comply with the will of the voters."

Under Prop. I -- passed last March by more than two-thirds of San Francisco voters -- Muni must replace by 2007 its pre-1991 diesel buses, which number about 150 out of the 454 diesel vehicles operated by Muni. The transit agency maintains the fifth largest bus fleet in the United States.

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"We are very concerned with getting the 1988 diesel buses off the road as soon as possible," said Linda Weiner, a spokeswoman for the American Lung Association. "These buses are so old they cannot be retrofitted with any modern technology, and in the meantime continue to spew toxic emissions of particulate matter that can lead to lung cancer and premature death."

Under the first deadline, diesel buses dating from 1984 and 1988 were to be phased out and replaced with cleaner vehicles.

"You see them, you taste them," Golinger said of the buses, which blow sooty exhaust into the air. "They're there every day. We're still concerned that Muni is not complying with the letter of the law."

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Muni officials said they are trying to satisfy the requirements of Prop. I, which, they note, did not provide for any funding for the new buses. The agency uses the older diesel buses only when needed as part of a reserve fleet of vehicles.

"The problem is the legislation did not come with any money," said Muni spokeswoman Maggie Lynch. "We are trying to comply with Prop. I. Over 50 percent of our daily fleet is nonpolluting," Lynch said, referring to Muni's full range of transit vehicles, diesel and electric trolley buses, electric trains and cable cars.

Environmentalists had urged Muni to buy natural gas buses. The transit agency signaled last year it was interested in buying hybrid diesel-electric vehicles after they were certified for use in California.

But last week, Lynch said Muni instead is working on a deal to buy 45 used and less polluting "clean" diesel buses from AC Transit for $4.1 million. Muni is expected to acquire the buses -- built in 1993 but fitted with upgraded engines -- within the next 60 days, she said. A best-case scenario has the buses going into service at the end of this year after they are repainted and refurbished.

Muni is also looking at longer- term plans to buy hybrid diesel-electric buses.

Supervisor Tom Ammiano said he hopes Wednesday's hearing, which was requested by environmentalists, will provide some resolution of the controversy.